Abstract

In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, mass transoceanic migration radically altered the social, cultural, and economic features of Latin America. The ruling elites of these young nations faced the changing demographics with both high expectations and existential dread. In Argentina, the country with the highest non-native population immigrant population in the region, immigrants placed a central role in the struggle to define national identity. This study analyzes the creation of public representations of Jewish-Argentineness as part of the contested process of establishing Argentine identity. The purported Otherness of Jewish immigrants - defined through language, religion, and both ancient and modern prejudice - as well as their place as the largest non-Catholic minority group established them as the symbolic battlefield where liberal and nativist factions of the country's elite fought to determine the boundaries of the nation. Jewish artists, radio show producers, and translators and publishers of Yiddish literature produced narratives of social and cultural integration and even redefined the meaning of Argentineness to construct xenophobia and anti-Semitism as incompatible, foreign forces. Language - Yiddish, Spanish, or a combination of both - acted as their preferred codification device to address their target audience. These efforts sought to reinforce the identitary construction of immigrants, incentivize their local-born children to resist assimilation and maintain their hyphenated identities, and convince the national elites of the productivity and patriotism of the Jewish-Argentine population. Representations of Jews in the non-Jewish liberal media similarly portrayed members of this ethnic group in a positive light, and argued for the success of trans-generational assimilation. Drawing on extensive archival research and audiovisual records, this study examines representations of Jewish-Argentines in popular culture, produced by both Jewish and non-Jewish cultural agents, to show the power of these public constructions to shape external understandings of minority identity. Analyzing these images and their reliance on constructions of the immigrant's accent, this dissertation highlights the relationship between language and ethnic identity. By comparing representations made by elite and minority cultural producers, this dissertation uncovers ideological and communicational chasms between social groups, and reveals shared underlying understandings between social center and periphery. List of Figures – Abbreviations – Introduction....................................................................................................................................................................1 – Setting the Stage: Nation-Building, Mass Migration, and its Consequences.....................................................................................15 – Immigration, Ideological Conflict, and the Challenges of Cosmopolitanism in Modern… Advisors/Committee Members: Rogers, Thomas (Committee Member), Yannakakis, Yanna (Committee Member), Lesser, Jeffrey (Thesis Advisor).